Friday’s Fresh Meat XIV

I’m absolutely obsessed by getting a dog at the moment.. I really want a Beagle, but this skateboarding Bulldog is quite funny too.. Max’s owner actually taught him how to jump on the board and push it with one leg!

Imagine living on £1 a day! Live Below the Line is a challenge to live below the poverty line for 5 days to increase awareness of the 1.4 billion people who live on £1 a day. Are you game to try? Alain Sylvain recently spoke about the challenge at the PSFK Conference in NYC.

Finnish supermarket introduces slow isles! A counter move against super effective super fast shopping experiences. K-citymarket in Finland has introduced slow check out isles aimed mainly for the elderly or disabled customers, but anyone who enjoys a more relaxing shopping experience is welcome. The new isle was introduced following a survey conducted amongst young disabled customers who described their experience of the check out isles and stressful and anxious. Now the slow isles even have armchairs for the people waiting in line.

Puma: The world’s fastest purchase, Mexico. To offer a counter example to the Finnish slow isles, there’s a campaign from Puma Mexico incentivising people to buy as fast as possible – the faster you bought the bigger the discount you received at the till.

Lynx Anarchy: The world’s first invisible ad, Australia. People passing by a street in Sydney were handed polarised glasses which unlocked the content of invisible LCD screens, upon which the visuals couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. And in typical Lynx fashion, the content was out there, with couples making out and random dogs swimming in a room of water!

Cannes Film Festival kicks off next week! Before the advertising crowd heads over to the Mediterranean, it’s time to celebrate film! Marilyn Monroe is the face of the Film Festival this year to commemorate the 65 year anniversary of the festival, and the 65 year anniversary of her passing.

London Museums are opening their doors in the dark for Museums at Night next weekend 18-20th May. Expect fun and quirky activities, no Ben Stiller chasing after objects that come to life. Or who knows..

I went to hear famous industrial designer Kenneth Grange speak at the V&A on Tuesday evening as part of their British Design series. He kicked off his career by working at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and has since then famously designed iconic products for Kodak, British Railways, Kenwood including the London black cabs and the Intercity 125 train. What he spoke of (including a story about putting a fake in the Design Museum) and my thoughts around it can be found in the post. Next for me in the British Design series is Paul Smith next week!

Last Friday I travelled up to my old college in Oxford to hear my hero former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Prize winner (2008) Martti Ahtisaari speak of his amazing career as a peace negotiator (he has negotiated peace in Kosova, Namibia, Indonesia amongst others). He started work in the Finnish Foreign Office, moving into the UN and after his presidency (1994-2000) set up the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), an independent non-profit organisation based in Finland. Incredibly inspirational – he made all us Scandinavians present at the talk consider a career in the Foreign Office! What he spoke of and my thoughts around it can be found in the post “An eternally misplaced person“.

The Rooftop Film Club at the Queen of Hoxton is now taking bookings for June.. Check out their exciting program and act fast – tickets sells out quickly!

There are very interesting plays on at the Royal Court Theatre. “Love, Love, Love” has received excellent reviews and all of London is quickly booking tickets. The revival of “Posh” has received a lot of attention in the press and seems to be a funny summer night out. I’m definitely going!

The nation was shocked on Thursday when Prince Charles presented the weather forecast on BBC Scotland during a visit around the offices. Will he become a regular? You gotta love his surprising sense of humour! Camilla also took a turn and took her new job as weather girl slightly more seriously..